Rubio responds to Ryan Lizza’s New Yorker story

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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As you might have heard, Ryan Lizza’s New Yorker piece about the Gang of 8 includes a quote attributed to “a Rubio aide” about American workers not being “star performers.”

Senator Rubio’s response is as follows:

“The quote attributed to a member of my staff was a description of one argument used against big labor’s opposition to a guest worker program. It is not my view in any way. I could not disagree with it more.”

“My belief is that the American worker is the most productive worker in the world. The purpose of a guest worker program is not to replace Americans, but rather to provide workers in industries where their is a shortage of domestic workers.”

* * *

“I completely reject the suggestion that American workers cannot compete with the rest of the world. American workers have built the most innovative and prosperous economy in human history, and part of the reason is because we’ve welcomed immigrant go-getters from all over the world that want to innovate and create jobs here because the American people’s work ethic and ingenuity are second to none.

“Reforming our immigration system will benefit American workers by ending de facto amnesty that undermines them, and by making sure we can attract top talent from outside America to reinforce the homegrown talent we’ve been blessed with. The push to modernize our legal immigration system has been driven by the reality that U.S. businesses need better options to fill labor shortages when not enough Americans apply for jobs, and doing so will ensure foreign workers have a legal and orderly way to come work.

“The American people haven’t forgotten how to create jobs or what it takes to provide their families with a better life. What American workers do need is a government that doesn’t stand in their way by punishing them with higher taxes, complex regulations, ObamaCare and a broken immigration that directly hurts American workers and prevents us from maximizing our full potential.”

UPDATE: The first two quotes (graphs 3 and 4) were added after this story initially posted.

Matt K. Lewis